Improvement in portable field-fences



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

O. II. P. ORENDORFF, OF BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT lN PORTABLE FIELD-FENCES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 33,792, dated November26, 1861.

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, O. II. P. ORENDORFF, of Bloomington, in the countyof McLean and State of Illinois, have invented an Improve-` ment inPortable Field-Fences, the construction and operation of which Ihavedescribed in the following specification and illustrated in itsaccompanying drawings with sufficient clearness to enable competent andskillful workmen in the arts to which it pertains or is most nearlyallied to make and use my invention.

My said invention consists in the construction and arrangement of partsin relation to each other in the manner hereinafter described forjoining the panels, by which I secure a firm and substantial junction ofthe ends of the panels, as hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of myimproved fence. Fig. 2 is a plan of it.

The panels are first constructed by nailing or otherwise securing thebars l, 2, 3, at, and

5 to the posts 6, 7, and 8, the end posts being nailed a little backfrom the ends of the bars so as to allow the bars to project a shortdistance beyond them, as shown in the drawings. Hooks 9 and l0 aresecured to one end of the rails of each panel, as shown, and staplescorrespondingly secured in the posts at the other end, as represented,the hooks and staples being so arranged as to connect with each otherand secure the fence in position when the parts are set up in theposition shown in the drawings. It will be observed that the ends of therails'of the panels to which the hooks are attached fit into the angleformed between the posts and the overlapping ends of the rails of thenext panel, and the hooks having been hooked into the staples hold thefence firmly in position, making one panel give substantial support tothe other in such a manner thatl nothing short of an absolute rupture ofthe parts can deprive one of them ot' the support of the other. Theangular position in which the parts are set adds to the security of thisarrangement by relieving the hooks of a considerable portion of thestrain which would be otherwise thrown upon them, as the pressure of thewind or other force so bears upon the parts as toa certain extent tothrow or force this angular joint together at one end of the panel,while having` a tendency to separate the joint at the other. The effectof force applied in one direction is very much the same as the eect ofsimilar force applied in the opposite direction, and by means of thecombination of this angular joint with the hooks the fence isconstructed, which is capable of being` set up or removed with theutmost possible facility, and yet is so lirmly connected as to becapable of resisting a greater strain than almost or quite any otherportable fence, as the parts cannot be forced out of their junctionwith'- out either forcing the hooks or staples from their sockets, orsplitting the bars from the posts.

I am aware that in several fences hooks have been employed to unite thepanels, or the contiguous posts which form a part of said panels. I makeno claim to the use of hooks and staples in joining the posts of afence, nor do I claim causing one panel to abut against the end or sideof another panel, either when this feature is separately considered or.when it is combined with the use of hooks and staples to unite thepanels; but I am not aware that in any case the panels have been joinedby making the rails of each panel overlap the posts, and the panelsinterlap into each other by the rails of one panel entering the angleformed between the overlapping' rails of the next panel and the posts towhich they are fastened, and securing them there by hooks and staples,as I have described.

I claim as my invention- Making the panels of a portable fence in such aWay that the end posts thereof shall set back from the end of the rails,leaving the ends of said rails projecting past the posts a shortdistance, thereby forming an angle into which t-he end of the adjoiningpanel may enter, then uniting the panels by inserting the end of onepanel into the angle formed as above described, and fastening the panelswhen thus united by hooks and staples attached to the same, the wholebeing constructed and arranged as and for the purposes above described.

O. H. P. ORENDORFF.

Witnesses:

JOHN M. STILWILL, J. R. IIALDEMAN.

